


did you hear... ?

by Tsumeggii



Category: A3! (Anime), A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Jealousy, Light Angst, M/M, gays, girl help, kumon's feeling things, my attempt at humor, my crush is an actor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27860593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsumeggii/pseuds/Tsumeggii
Summary: Kumon doesn’t think dating someone is a scandal. Some people think differently than him, though.
Relationships: Hyoudou Kumon & Sumeragi Tenma, Hyoudou Kumon/Sumeragi Tenma
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	did you hear... ?

**Author's Note:**

> tw mentions for kumon thinking about breaking a bone, he doesn't do it tho!

“Did you hear? Tenma Sumeragi’s dating someone.”

“No way—”

“I’m not kidding. He let it slip awhile ago in the morning interview.”

The corner of Class 1-C's room buzzes with chatter as the typical afternoon gossip was exchanged, the ever-present giggle of teenage girls causing Kumon’s face to pinch. His stomach gurgles and his hands feel clammy just from holding a pen alone. He looks at the girls cooped up in the side of his classroom, huddled over a phone before staring back down at his unfinished worksheet. He should be paying attention to derivatives and not to some measly gossip that's definitely not true. He should finish this worksheet so he can make it in time for practice later and so he can see Tenma sooner and maybe—

“Hey, Kumon. Did you finish number three yet?” A hand waves in front of his face. 

“Huh?” He looks up, blinking as he takes in things other than the giggles that's been assaulting his ear like a nasty ear worm. What greets him is a frowning face, coupled with a creased brow and cocked head-- Yamaguchi as always, was concerned.

“You were doing that constipated thing. It didn’t look as bad as those times before games… but y’know…” Yamaguchi explains, sliding down into the seat in front of his desk. “It’s still worrisome.”

Kumon frowns, looking down at his worksheet again. 

“Yo, what’s going on?” Yamaguchi frowns. 

Kumon purses his lips, sparing the group of girls another glance before burying his face into his hands. It catches Yamaguchi off guard, eyes widening as he looks at his friend in concern. “Dude?”

“Do you...” Kumon pauses, chest puffing up before he lets out a loud exhale. “...if celebrities started dating… is that a scandal?”

Yamaguchi raises a brow. “No?”

“No?” Kumon echoes. 

Yamaguchi stares at him. “You know I don’t particularly care about this stuff.”

“Yeah! B-but what if it was one of our favourite baseball players? What if it was Ichiro Suzuki-san?”

“Ichiro Suzuki-san is _married_.”

“Well what if he wasn’t?” Kumon argues, looking up from his palms. “Hypothetically if your favourite celebrity started dating someone, would you consider it a scandal?”

Yamaguchi grimaces, his face looking constipated. Was that how he looked liked, Kumon thinks briefly. It's kind of ugly. “No? Not like I particularly care about who they date. If they still play like their usual then it’s no problem for me.”

The frown doesn’t leave Kumon’s face. 

It’s not like it really matters, right? Dating shouldn’t even be an issue right now. They're high school students-- they should be focused on getting through everyday student problems and maybe winning Koushien. Dating isn’t even that bad. So what if two people decide to hold hands? It’s not that incriminating, no matter how much Azami insists it is. 

Yamaguchi taps his arm, looking around before leaning in,“... is this— is this about the whole Tenma Sumeragi thing?”

“See I told you! He is dating someone!” A voice squeals. 

Before Kumon can deny the notion, the sound of a chair dragging across the floor breaks their conversation and both boys look up to see the girls losing their minds. “Wait! Wait! Replay that again. What the heck, he’s so cool—” one of them squeaks, pulling the phone away from the owner to rewind the video. They go silent before breaking out into a fit of screams once more. “See! He really did say it. He said ‘They’d like it if I brought meat instead of flowers.’ He’s so _cool_.” The girl yells, shaking her head furiously. 

"Imagine him just showing up at your doorstep with flowers and like money for dates," one of them pipes up from her seat, hands clasped as she looks up at the ceiling in thought. The girl beside her squeals, "You think he'd take you out on hiking trips too?" 

"Oh my god, he'd take you to water park trips. And then you'd get wet and he'd pull that scene from "I Love My President Even If He Is A Psycho" and take off his shirt--"

“Why is Tenma dating someone that isn’t _me_?” Another one practically sobs, falling off her chair and onto the floor. 

Kumon’s face sours. 

“Oh, so it is the Tenma stuff.” Yamaguchi murmurs. 

“I-it’s not really. It’s more of...” Kumon's hands jerk away from the blank worksheet, averting his eyes away from his friend. There’s some solidarity at the action, with how the paper remains half empty as he feels. Yamaguchi scratches his head. 

“Are you feeling protective?” He asks him, ruffling his hair. Kumon blinks up at him, golden eyes giving Yamaguchi a strange look. 

Yamaguchi sighs, sparing a glance at the group of squealing girls. “Isn’t Tenma Sumeragi your leader at the theatre thing? Hearing baseless rumours like that must frustrate you right?” He asks, scratching his arm in hesitance. 

It does. Half of the time he usually doesn’t mind what the mass media has to say to them, not with how Tenma had already toughened their skin with every little nitpicking detail. However that doesn’t necessarily stop his skin from itching from the daily criticism he hears about their leader, how haughty he is or how he’s secretly an asshole (Yuki says he is, but he’s their asshole. Only they can call him that.) But hearing other people make a big deal out of normal stuff gets him mad too. Tenma deserves to experience a normal highschool life too. And so what if he’s dating someone? It’s not like other eighteen year olds aren’t making out in the corner of the stairwells too. 

Kumon shudders, disturbed, but hey, it’s none of his business. 

It’s unfair, how people can make such claims about Tenma without actually knowing him. They’re not the one who sees him after practice, still going over the script even as the sun sets. They’re not the one who sees him down a mug of bland coffee as he tries to finish what he can of the chunk of his homework piled up after a week of filming. They don’t see him fall asleep backstage when the rehearsals lull nor do they see him sluggishly run them through at 4 am in the morning. 

It irks him to no end and it must be painted clear on his face because the next thing he knows is that Yamaguchi’s chucking a shoe towards the girls in the classroom. 

“Hey! Some people are trying to nap here,” Yamaguchi yells, furrowed brows giving them a glare as he stands up to retrieve his shoe. 

They take it in stride, shrugging him an apology before going back to their business, squeaking softly this time. 

Kumon looks away, his chest burning weirdly as he props his head on his hands hearing yet another squeal. 

“Hey Muku...”

Muku looks up from his book, legs freezing midair. “What is it, Kyuchan?”

“Do you think Tenma-san dating someone is a scandal?”

Muku blinks down at him, slowly closing his book. It’s a slow afternoon, most of Mankai having gone off to make the most of their weekend. They’re both resting in room 202 after a filling lunch cooked by Omi— some steak and delicious peach ice cream —something Tenma would’ve loved to eat along with them. 

Muku shifts in his bed, staring down at Kumon who’s flopped onto the ground like a soggy french fry. He has to stop himself from laughing at how weird his cousin looks, “Why would you ask that?”

Kumon looks up at him with his nose scrunched, “Like… if you heard that Tenma-san was dating someone, would you say it’s a scandal?”

Muku shakes his head, “but Tenma-kun isn’t dating anyone?” 

“Yeah, I know,” he mumbles, spreading his arms out like a starfish. “But… hypothetically, if Tenma-san was dating someone would you think it’s a scandal?”

“Is this about the rumour, Kyuchan?” Muku looks at him pointedly. 

His mouth falls shut, face and eyes going still. “...no.”

Muku raises the book, making it clear that if he were to drop it, it would fall directly on Kumon’s face. Kumon flinches, averting his eyes from his cousin, “...maybe.”

"Which rumor is it?" Muku asks him. 

Kumon's eyes snap back to his cousin, gold gleaming differently in the afternoon. "Which rumor?" 

Muku looks at him as if this wasn't common knowledge. And Kumon would argue that it is, in fact, not common knowledge. "Tenma-kun gets a lot of rumors on the daily, Kyuchan. You're not used to it yet? I mean, not to be a bad person because we don't believe them! We told Tenma-kun about this one time and he just told us to not mind it." 

"Of course it was difficult at first considering we really didn't want his name to be thrown around just like that but he really insisted. Has Tenma-kun not told you yet? Kyuchan, I'm sorry but--" 

"Wait, _which_ rumor?" 

Muku stares back at him, not minding the fact that he's being interrupted. "Are you okay, Kyuchan?" 

"There's multiple rumors about him dating?" Kumon gapes at him, mouth open enough that it could probably catch a fly. 

Muku's brow creases, lips turning into a pout. "W-well…" 

"Well?" Kumon presses. 

"Well…" Muku trails off, averting his eyes away from his cousin. "... there's… three that I know of." 

Kumon's eyes bulge, moving to sit up from his position on the floor, "Three?" 

"Yes? One about the girlfriend from America which he met on a flyway trip filming "You Aren't My White Girlfriend." The other was about a girl he met in a convenience store in Okinawa, which is more believable than the American girlfriend because like Tenma-kun can't even speak much english. Not that it's a bad thing, of course since we're Japanese. And that rumor has photos too! I'll show you later, Kyuchan. And then the other--" 

"The one he's said that likes meat?" Kumon interrupts again, cocking his head to the side. 

"Likes meat?" Muku cocks his head in response, mimicking his cousin. 

"It's… it's not that one?" Kumon asks him, fiddling with the hems of his shirt. 

"No? I heard that the girlfriend is vegan." Muku tells him, eyes filling in with confusion. 

They both stare at each other in silence, mulling over the fact that they apparently know absolutely nothing about this rumor at this point. 

"Is this normal?" Kumon pipes, moving to lie back down on the floor. He lets out a little breath as the cold tile greets his back, his short purple hair spreading around him. 

"Kind of?" Muku quirks his lips to the side. "We're kind of used to it. If it gets too concerning we just ask Tenma-kun about it! He's honest with us!" Muku laughs softly and it’s true for the most part. Well… as honest as he can get with them at least. 

"But Kyuchan," Muku starts again, scooting towards the end of the bed. "Does it bother you?" 

Kumon bites his lower lips, eyes moving away from his cousin to stare at the ceiling. 

Does it bother him? 

No. Maybe a little bit. He knows he doesn't really have any rights to get bothered by it since whatever Tenma won't tell him is none of his business. But even the thought of Tenma keeping secrets like that… it makes his chest burn, hands trembling and knees weak. It’s the bad kind of chest burning, hands trembling and knees weak. It makes him think a lot of unsavory things, like, what if Tenma's hiding more secrets from him? From them? 

Muku lets his arm hang over the railing of his bed, humming in thought. Kumon stares at the dangling book, enough that it gets his head fuzzy. He fiddles his fingers against the hems of his shirt, lips in a pout. He waits for Muku’s input, the silence looming over him like a huge shade, his toes wiggling in anticipation (... or dread?).

“Well...Tenma-kun dating is none of our business so I don’t think it’s a scandal but-- oh!”  
Muku, scrambles to sit up, peering over the railing of his bed. 

“Whoever dates Tenma-kun has to hide from the scrutiny of the industry which means their love is forbidden. Maybe that's why it's such a buzz in the media. Tenma-kun can't tell us anything about it too because if we know then a lot of people can possibly know and that's going to put their relationship in peril. Kyuchan, oh my god.” Muku gasps, hands smacking to cover his mouth in shock, letting go of the book. 

A loud thud rings out, followed by a pained groan. 

“ _ **Kyuchan, oh my god**_.”

“You good?” Juza looks at him, eyes filled with concern as Kumon sits down next to him. 

“I’m good! Muku didn’t mean it!” He nods at his brother, preening as he ruffles his hair. Juza pulls away right as he says so, his eye twitching as if he were burned by the words. 

“Are you serious?” 

“Serious? About what?” Kumons echoes. 

Juza glances past him to look at Muku playing with the cats by the courtyard bench before staring at the bruise on his forehead. “You’re telling me Muku did that?” 

“Accidentally.” Kumon nods. Juza stares at him. 

“What happened?” His brother asks, putting the script in his hands down on the floor. 

Kumon smiles sheepishly, crossing his legs and tucking his hands under them. “I kinda gave Muku a spook. I asked him a question and we kinda...” he scratches his cheek, staring down at the floor, “we kinda derailed from there.”

“And the book?” Juza asks. 

“He dropped it in shock and I was on the floor.” Kumon shrugs, pursing his lips. 

Juza glances at him, then at Muku, then back to him before nodding. “What did you ask him?”

“If a celebrity was dating is it really a scandal?” 

“Is this about Tenma?” Juza asks, flipping the page of the script. 

Kumon loves spending time with his brother. He really does. He loves his brother a whole lot to the point where he thinks his brother is the best thing right before the creation of baseball and theater. He loves Juza from the bottom of his heart but there are just those times where he’d rather be with anyone but his brother. 

“I didn’t even mention his name!” Kumon whines. 

Juza smiles softly, reaching out to ruffle his hair again. Kumon frowns, head hanging down as he lets his brother do so. “He’s all you talk about lately. ‘ow am I not supposed to guess?”

Kumon pouts, cheeks tinting pink as he traces the edges of the floorboards with his finger, his eyes downcast. “Do I really?”

Juza doesn’t answer, giving him a noogie instead. “No. It just makes it seem like you have a crush on him.”

Kumon stares at the wall, contemplating the idea of climbing it. If he does actually end up scaling the wall, would he survive? He’d probably break a bone, but bones get repaired, don’t they? Yuki would scold him. So would Tenma. 

“...do you have a crush on him?” Juza asks him again, eyes wide. Oh man, breaking a bone doesn’t seem that bad now. 

“Nii-chan,” he wails. “Please, it’s really not like that!”

“Then why are you so pink?” Juza smirks, raising a brow. 

Kumon slaps a hand on his cheeks, whining. Juza grunts, telling him to stop slapping himself and just like that the dam breaks.

“Nii-chan! Please, really. I don’t. I just admire him a lot. I’m just concerned, y’know? Like, people get so riled up with all these rumours and most of them aren’t even true! Even if Tenma-san just stands there, they’ll still find something to make a rumor about! Tenma-san’s tired enough, they don’t need to add to that.” He huffs, hands waving violently in the air. 

"What rumor is this about?" Juza shifts his weight, putting the script aside. 

Kumon's mouth shuts for a moment, surprised that his brother doesn't know about the wildly popular rumor. Then again, Juza wasn't really the social media type of person.

"Did Tenma commit a crime? Get lost again? Landed himself in Jail?" Two lines appear between Juza's brows. 

"No! Tenma-san's innocent!" Kumon shakes his head, pulling away from his brother. 

"Then what is it?" 

"Uhm…" Kumon's lip twitches, eyes landing on the floor once more. "...the one about Tenma-san's...girlfriend." 

"The girlfriend in Hokkaido?" Juza grunts. 

"The girlfriend in _where_?" Kumon echoes. 

"In Hokkaido. Omi-san was talking about it awhile ago during lunch. The article appeared on his feed. It had photos too." Juza replies, leaning his back onto the post behind him. 

Articles? There were articles now? Kumon bites the side of his lower lip much to his brother's nagging. "How many articles did you see, nii-chan?" 

Juza raises a finger. 

"Just one?" 

"Kumon, I've only read one. If you're curious you can look it up." Juza sighs. 

Kumon huffs, sitting up straighter. "But that'll be like giving into the rumors! I believe Tenma-san doesn't have a girlfriend because if he did then he'd tell us because I know he trusts us." 

"It's not bad to look at news articles, Kumon." 

"Nii-chan, that's believing the gossip!" 

Juza looks at him amused, nodding along to whatever his little brother had to say. “So, you don't have a crush on Tenma. You're just concerned?”

Kumon confidently nods. 

“So not jealous too?”

“Nii-chan!”

It's a little bit after dinner when Kumon spots him, the man of the hour sitting walking out of the kitchen to sit on the living room couch, decked in bright colored pajamas with that weird hot sauce stain at the back of his pants. 

“Taichi-san...”

Taichi whirls around, grinning brightly at him. Oh wow, people weren’t wrong when they said Taichi resembled the sun. “Oh, Kyuchan, how are you? Whatcha need?”

Kumon fiddles his thumbs together, biting down on his lip. “I just wanted to ask if Tenma-san was doing okay?”

Taichi frowns for the briefest moment and it makes Kumon’s brain haywire, alarms blaring in his head. He really should’ve stopped his classmates from spouting off nonsense. They’ve probably started spreading weird theories about Tenma and his secret spouse from Columbia on their SNS and it probably has reached Tenma’s agency meaning they’d have to give and official statement about Tenma and he could’ve done something to prevent all of this and oh god, Tenma’s probably more stressed out now than he was before and he has an upcoming film to worry about too and—

“Oh? Ten-chan’s doing okay the last time I saw him.” Taichi pauses before nodding as if to confirm his thought. “Is this about the whole Tenma Sumeragi being married to a girl he met in Russia after going to a Hoizer concert rumor?”

Kumon doubletakes. 

“Russia?” Kumon asks before doubletaking again. 

“ _ **Wife**_?”

“Isn’t that what the rumors said?” Taichi blinks up at him, pulling out his phone to scroll down Tenma’s tag. "Nepal is in Russia, right?" 

That sounded wrong, Kumon, belatedly thinks, but then again he doesn't really know exactly where Nepal is. 

“W-well uh, I just wanted to see if Tenma-san was okay at school today since… the entire rumor kind of blew out of proportion.” Kumon says, voice fading into a murmur as he scratches the back of his right leg with his foot. 

Taichi’s face clears up, looking up from his device. “Oh- oh did it? He didn’t seem all that bothered. Ten-chan was still all...charming with our classmates when they came to ask him about it.” He shrugs, moving to sit on the arm rest of the couch. 

“They asked him? What did he say?” He asks, cracking a knuckle. 

“Ten-chan went all mysterious and just smiled at them like he was in a toothpaste commercial. It’s that good looking smile, y’know? Everyone just kinda took it and ran.”

He does know that Tenma’s smiles look good. “What do you mean?”

Taichi shrugs. “I asked him about the marriage thing and he just-” Taichi pauses, looking around for a moment for anyone eavesdropping even though they were alone in the living room. “Ten-chan just kinda turned red and looked down at his lap.” Taichi whispers to him. 

Kumon’s face burns bright red. 

“I really think he has a wife and that’s _so unfair_. I haven't even gotten a girlfriend yet and he already has a wife!” Taichi wails, falling back into the couch unaware of Kumon’s inner turmoil. 

Five days later Kumon still thinks about the whole dating scandal debacle. It sits at the back of his mind like that one high pitched song from the clock app that gives the worst ear worms, replaying in his brain whenever he sits down to eat, whenever he opens a book, whenever he lies down in bed before sleeping. 

And he still firmly stands by the notion that dating someone isn't a scandal. He's hopeless romantic like that, but he means it when he says that everyone deserves their happy endings if it means getting hitched then who was he to not be supportive? Even artists who bring entertainment to their lives deserve happy endings like those in dramas or movies. 

So he scratches his head whenever he reads a particular article about criticizing a relationship between two popular people. They just wanna kiss dude, let them be, he thinks. 

What burns in the back of his eyes though, is that one seven thousand word article written with the title: _Summertime love for the summertime Prince, Tenma Sumeragi_. It's stupid, from the title to the contents. It's filled with accusations, malicious twists of wholesome things like Tenma going into stores to buy chocolates, and many other stuff that are just purely _lies_. Filled with unknown pretty girls getting dragged into this... ridiculous thing too. Kumon wants nothing more than to unread that because it's crazy scary how baseless the media can be and for Tenma to be under that constant pressure? He doesn't know how he does it. 

It’s on a Wednesday afternoon when the unexpected happens. 

Five minutes after the school curfew bell rings, Kumon finds three of his teammates practically cartwheeling their way into the locker room. On a usual day, Kumon wouldn’t even bat an eye at their antics. But it’s Wednesday and it’s been a tiring afternoon, so tiring that Kumon has half the mind to ice his arms properly. He drags his spare shirt over his head when their first year batter tumbles to him, wide-eyed and starry. 

“Kumon-senpai!” he practically squeals, “You didn’t tell us you had a boyfriend!”

“It’s not really our business what Kumon’s love life is, Higurashi.” Yamaguchi draws as he shuts his locker close. The freshman whines, peaking back outside the door before tumbling over again.

“But it’s like- Kumon-senpai is practically a celebrity! He’s an actor after all!”

Kumon laughs, sheepish, “Oh, you’re being too much. I’m not really good at it so I can’t say that-”

“But senpai’s popular! And it would matter since your boyfriend is an actor too!” Higurashi squeaks out. 

Kumon pauses. “I never told you who my boyfriend was… did I?” 

Higurashi shakes his head, pointing out the door. “No but-”

“Kumon? Are you there?” Tenma speaks, head popping past the locker room door. 

Birds chirp by the electricity post just as a loud motorcycle zooms by, engine reverberating. 

“It’s Tenma Sumeragi!” Yamaguchi yells, flinching away from his friend. The once silent locker room falls into chaos as multiple high school boys try to worm into their shirts while simultaneously moving out of the Tenma Sumeragi’s field of view. Higurashi screams, pulling out a notebook and so does about half the people in the room, from the corner of Kumon’s eyes he can see someone step into a bucket and slip. 

Tenma stands in front of the room, concerned and shocked. Their eyes meet and Kumon wishes that somehow manifestations came as fast as they were said because nothing was stopping him from wishing the floor would crumble open and swallow him whole. 

“Did- did I come at a bad time?” Tenma stutters, shuffling out of the room. 

“No!” Everyone yells in unison, turning around from whatever angle they were in to reach out to the actor. Tenma pauses wide-eyed as his eyes scan the room and at a snap almost everyone clears out of the way revealing Kumon with half his arm through one of the holes of his shirt, the other stuck midair. 

Silence and then a muted uproar. 

“Get out, get out, get out,” the captain hisses, ushering everyone through the backdoor. Yamaguchi stumbles, pulling Higurashi and the rest of the freshman squad out the door, much to their complaints. He spares his friend an encouraging glance before shutting the door close, the bang echoing as rickety locker room clock ticks, a painful reminder of what kind of life Kumon leads. 

“So…” Tenma starts, confused. He enters the room once more, eyes peeking briefly outside before shutting the door close, back pressed against the rusted metal, “..bad timing?”

“What are you doing here?” He asks, scandalized. 

Tenma huffs, “I just thought it’d be nice y’know. I mean, we are dating so… I thought… I thought...” his voice booms before fading into an unsure mumble as he rubs the back of his neck pointedly looking away from the other. 

“I mean! Tenma-san, I’m glad you visited me but- but your image! Your reputation! What if some bad paparazzi sees you and thinks badly and then you’ll be forced to-”

“Kumon,” Tenma calls out. “You’re spiraling.”

Kumon bites his lips, shuffling his feet. “Well...”

“I don’t, ugh… don’t mind what the paparazzi does,” he murmurs pushing away from the door, walking up to the younger. “I just… since we’re dating now I thought… It’d be nice to… y’know...”

“Know… what?”

“... walk you home.” Tenma mutters, cheeks pink. 

Kumon stands in the middle of his locker room sweaty, smelly, half naked and unbearably in love. 

It’s unfair how good Tenma is at this whole relationship thing. Kumon thinks it’s from the years and years of starring in teenage dramas that Tenma’s able to sweep him off his feet easily. Liking someone should’ve come with this manual of being able to deal with all the emotions that came with it because how is he supposed to react when Tenma goes out of his way to visit his school at ass o’clock after a long tiring day? Like a normal human being? No way. 

“Well- I’m- I’ll be ready in a bit!” Kumon pipes, standing up straight as color blooms on his face. 

Tenma nods, eyes attached to the floor as he gives the other an awkward thumbs up before he turns around and with the whirl of the soles of his feet, he steps out of the room. 

Yamaguchi slips into the room just as Kumon zips his bag closed, hands wrangled around each other. 

“Did you need something?” Kumon asks, “Tenma-san’s not here anymore so everyone can-”

“No, it’s okay,” Yamaguchi laughs, peeking out into the field where everyone was gathered. Kumon raises a brow in silent judgement. “I just… You’re dating Tenma Sumeragi?” He asks, voice stuck in between what could be a scream or a whisper. 

Kumon smiles sheepishly. He is dating Tenma Sumeragi, isn’t he? Sometimes, Kumon still can’t keep his head wrapped around the fact that he-- Kumon Hyodo, the star pitcher of Tsukushi High School and a theater nobody at Mankai-- is dating Tenma Sumeragi- Nation’s Beloved Theater Wonderboy. Sometimes he wonders if he deserves it. Tenma Sumeragi is so much... so much more in comparison to the nothing that he was. Did he save a country in his past life? Was he a hero enough that he was given a chance with someone so out of his own league? 

Kumon’s heart pounds in his chest. “I am...is...is it a problem?”

“Oh, no! Man, I’m proud of you for bagging a hotshot like him. All of us in the club are!” Yamaguchi yells, hands raised up in surrender. “It’s just a shock, you know?”

It would be. After all he isn’t a person with some esteemed importance. He isn’t a son of a big company CEO like Masumi, or born with natural charisma, smarts, and talent like Banri but… but what? Isn’t he basically undeserving of it?

Kumon’s sure Yamaguchi didn’t mean harm with those words but the way it keeps echoing at the back of his head like some broken mantra makes him want to measure the whole baseball field with cartwheels because it's so unnervingly honest. Kumon doesn’t deserve Tenma’s affection like this. Tenma deserves a bumbling romance with some popular girl next door, not this awkward dance and song they have. He deserves someone of a higher status, not some highschool nobody like Kumon.

He deserves a relationship worth publicity. 

“You okay?” Tenma asks, pausing in his stride just as he reaches out to hold Kumon’s hand in his. 

Kumon’s brain short circuits. Alarms blare in his head as it tries to wrap itself around the warmth emitting from Tenma’s hands and suddenly Kumon feels like he can measure the baseball field with cartwheels alone. 

“Y-yeah! I’m very okay! Tenma-san is here, after all.” He laughs, overwhelmed. He looks down at their intertwined hands and smiles, the grin almost painful as it spreads over his face wiping all thoughts present in his head. 

Tenma frowns, pulling them into a stop. A car or two passes by before he speaks up again, “...you can tell me, y'know. It’s no use keeping quiet.”

It burns right through his chest, how Tenma can be so blunt when it comes to him but take a moment with his feelings. “I was just thinking...” Kumon gulps. “Does- would you consider dating as a scandal, Tenma-san?”

Tenma’s shock is obvious, eyes widening as he gets thrown off by the question. “No.” He replies after a small pause, an exhale sounding extremely similar to a laugh escaping him. “What the media has to say about my life is none of their business.”

“But Tenma-san’s got years of acting ahead of him. If he gets caught in a scandal it’s definitely going to hurt your reputation in the long run, right? And to be caught dating me, it’s going to make your fans mad and-”

Tenma squeezes his hand. “Kumon.”

“Sorry,” he mumbles. 

“I don’t care. You can’t call them fans if they don’t like this. What we have… it’s not an actor thing. It’s my thing so… I don’t care.”

Really, it’s so unfair how despite having the biggest personality gap, Tenma can still sweep him off his feet. He’s supposed to be the knight in shining armour dammit. He’s supposed to be the one making Tenma feel all giddy and melty and in love like one of those cheesy 10 am dramas he appears in. 

“But I care.” Kumon sighs, shoulders dropping. 

“And I don’t.” Tenma cuts him off, waving a hand in front of his face to silence him. “It’s not like I broadcasted your name on National television. I mean I could, and it’d be nice to finally stop wearing shades during dates but... ” He quirks his lips, cheeks tinting a bit redder than before. “I know you’re not yet ready so...”

Tenma looks pretty under the afternoon sky. Even if a huge cap covers his bright orange hair, huge black shades over his eyes, and atrocious baggy pants paired with some denim article… Tenma looks really pretty. And Kumon must’ve fought tooth and nail in his past life to deserve this but if in this life, he gets to reap rewards as huge as dating Tenma then… who is he to complain. 

Kumon laughs, squeezing Tenma’s hand in his. “Someday when we’re both ready then, Tenma-san.”

Tenma huffs, coughing in the crook of his elbow to hide the blush on his cheeks. “Well… a-anything for you, I guess.”

_"You okay? You've been breathing pretty harshly there," Igawa laughs as he turns to a curb on a familiar street._

_"Huh— uh, yes. I am, I'm good." Tenma coughs as he rubs his hands on his pants once more._

_Igawa hums as he looks around for a parking spot, eyes glancing at the rear view mirror, "you know, it's quite cute to see you so taken by a boy. I hope the date goes well. You can call me if you need a ride back home." He speaks, careful enough to fill the tense silence in the car._

_"You're gonna be fine Tenma."_

_"I'm going on a date."_

_"Yes, you are."_

_"I'm going on a date with a boy."_

_"Yes?"_

_"This is going to cause a scandal."_

_Igawa sighs, "Falling in love isn't a scandal, Tenma. It's a normal human function. So," he pauses just as he parks the car in front of a familiar bakery. "Make sure you woo the boy enough that he'll like you regardless of who you are." Igawa grins, holding a thumbs up._

_He bites his lip in anxiousness before he laughs. He's Tenma Sumeragi right? Right. He's going to make this boy fall in love with him, whatever it takes. "...thanks," he murmurs nonchalantly before giving Igawa a shy smile, shucking on his shades._

_He takes the carefully wrapped present out of the car, looking around before sneakily walking up to the bakery where they said they'll meet._

_He stills, hands numbing again as the gnawing feeling makes its way back in his stomach. Tenma shifts, eyes glazing but the sudden whizz of purple from the clear glass catches his eyes and he sees.... he sees Kumon smiling. He sees him smiling as he talks to what seems to be another man behind the counter. He sees him grin like the peaks of the sun rays during twilight, like the twinkle of a star during the night and distantly he thinks back to the conversation in the car, "love isn't a scandal. It's a normal human function."_

_Tenma takes a deep breath. Love is an all too early word to use but he'll be damned if he doesn't make Kumon fall in love with him. And with those thoughts in mind, he opens the door. So what if the media has some words to say? He’s never been the one to listen anyway._

**Author's Note:**

> god this has been rotting in my files but shout out to mik for helping me go through this! Ily a lot, ur a literal angel of god my guardian dear. I really thank you so much for helping me with this <33
> 
> And this is dedicated to micmic, micmic if u see this stop sending me shit to brainrot about at 2 am, ur supposed to be asleep. But uu, thank u for entertaining my kyuten brainrots bb <3 if u wanna scream kyuten, follow me @tsumeggii !! 
> 
> I'm also severely unfamiliar which writing characters other than tenma so this was a nice attempt. I'm sorry if the other characters were ooc, I'll continue to do my best in learning how to write them! I hoped you readers liked this one and thank you for reading! <3


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